Psychology professor Elle Shaefer is about to have her life transformed by a reclusive folk doctor who died almost a century earlier. Elle is vacationing on Beaver Island, Michigan with close friends during a difficult period of her life. Her destiny becomes entwined with that of the island's legendary folk doctor, Feodor Protar.

Protar had arrived on the island in 1893, seeking refuge from his own dis-ease. Through caring for the sick and dying, he had begun to heal. His constant spiritual companion in the process was Leo Tolstoy, whose later writings inspired Protar's long journal reflections. Yet some crucial ingredient is missing in Protar's prescription for his own healing.

In a quirk of time and space, Elle provides the missing ingredient. Although Elle was initially dismayed to learn that Protar had abandoned his wife in Latvia and immigrated to the States, she softens towards him as she begins to translate his journals. There she learns of the struggle to redeem himself. As Elle wrestles her own demons in intensive psychotherapy, she finds the right medicine for both herself and Protar.